Browns coach makes bold claim about new fair catch rule

Cleveland Browns special teams coordinator Bubba Ventrone offered a bold claim about the NFL adopting a new rule regarding kickoffs. 

"All the coordinators were against it, the players are against it," Ventrone said, per Dan Labbe of the Cleveland Plain Dealer, "but supposedly, there’s data." 

Ventrone was referring to how kick returners can now call for a fair catch anywhere inside the 25-yard line to have the ball placed at the 25. NFL commissioner Roger Goodell insisted data shows kickoffs produce a "higher rate of injury" such as concussions, but Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk subsequently reported that "some who oppose the latest change" believe the league "deliberately (fudged) the numbers in order to support the change that was made." 

Ventrone seemed to back Florio's take. 

"We see a cut-up of the concussions that happened on kickoff," Ventrone explained. "Me personally, do I agree that all those concussions are a result of how the play is? No, I completely disagree on that, actually. Do I feel like that play is safe? I do feel like that play is a safe play. I don’t feel like it’s a dangerous play." 

Dan Campbell of the Detroit Lions, Andy Reid of the Kansas City Chiefs, John Harbaugh of the Baltimore Ravens and Pete Carroll of the Seattle Seahawks are among the coaches who have publicly opposed the new rule. Ventrone indicated Cleveland players will continue returning kickoffs. 

"I know we’ve got a lot of good returners," Ventrone said. "We’ve got depth in all those ball handlers on the roster, so my mentality would be to return first, but we’ll explore every option that we have with it. There’s a lot of situational, things that play into effect as well, so just kind of play it by ear." 

Coaches and players can, have and likely will continue to complain about the change through the season. As individuals such as Pro Football Talk's Michael David Smith have suggested, it seems to be merely a matter of time before the NFL eliminates standard kickoff plays entirely.